“Every word of it. It happened in Denmark, and the heroine was thought so beautiful that she was known by no other name but that of ‘the lovely maid.’ ”

“In Denmark, say you?” mumbled an old nun. “Are not the people all blacks in Denmark?”

“By no means, reverend lady; they are of a delicate pea-green with flame-coloured hair and whiskers.”

“Mother of God! pea-green?” exclaimed Sister Helena; “Oh! ’tis impossible!”

“Impossible?” said the porteress with a look of contempt and exultation: “Not at all: when I was a young woman, I remember seeing several of them myself.”